When I was little, I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I’ve mentioned that twice in random online places the past few months and the response has been “are you writing now?” I can’t even bring myself to answer because it would be “ummm no. It’s all in my head”.

There is a lot I want to say. And so this is me getting started.

I started my morning at the dentist. When I was asked how it went, I responded: “I’m not sure how I’ve had a c-section and multiple other surgeries because I’m a total wimp when they scrape my teeth and then I’m cranky when it’s over because my teeth hurt.” I thought that was going to be the most annoying part of my day. I was wrong.

The afternoon found me at my RE trying to figure out why my hCG levels aren’t going down after my (third) miscarriage. After they called with my blood work results from yesterday (4th blood draw in a week) I decided that rather than end up in the ER again, I needed an ultrasound today. I have a great doctor, he checked, he listened, he talked and I felt better, although the problem wasn’t immediately solved. He’s direct and a bit irreverent. At the end he told me to have a stiff drink this weekend and screw. So I went home and did the drinking part. Needless to say, not much work has gotten done this week (or last week for that matter). More blood work on Monday.

Other random musings:

– I prayed for a few small joy moments today. On the way to the RE I ranted and raved that I wasn’t seeing the joy. An hour later I was sitting on our screened in porch with my husband, drinking wine and watching a storm roll in. Ah there was the joy in the midst of the storm.

– Another joy moment: sending the wrong person on Facebook messenger an update of the doctor’s visit. Luckily it was to someone who totally gets it and we exchanged quick catch up messages. I was so happy to hear about some of her recent joy.

– Mispronounced words by little kids. My 5 year old last night called them “frickels”. He wanted to know if his sunburn would give him frickles. So much joy in listening to him.

After waking up with a migraine at 5:30 am I didn’t think I would be doing much today… I was wrong. 2 advil and 90 more minutes of sleep and my day was started.

I got in a swim workout of 1600 yards with 700-yards time for about a 1:50 split time / 100-yards. Pretty decent for me. I also managed to swim 2 50-yard sprints on 47-seconds for an all time best this year. I can feel the positivie benefits of the other cardio (bike & run) on my swim which is great. I also attended a masters class a few weeks ago and picked up a couple of tips for my flip turns. I didn’t even realize I was doing anything wrong so it was awesome to find a place to shave a second or two off my time.

My dad recently informed me that he will be swimming on a relay team for the Wendy’s Triathlon. His 100-yard time is 98 seconds. I have a ways to go on that!

Caterer

We had Berwick Catering and served the Italian Family Style Meal. The food was delicious and TJ was amazing, helpful and had such a great attention to detail. Everything about the food and all things related to the food went extremely well.

The delicious menu that was served

Make-Up

I used Nicole at Mukha on High Street in the short north. She came to my parent’s house and did a wonderful job!! I loved her and still go to her for brow waxing :) We did a practice round first a few months before the wedding. A close up showing my make-up (fake eye-lashes and all!)

I feel pretty!

Hair

I went to a Amanda at Ultimate Image in Powell. My normal hair-stylist does not do up-dos. I liked Amanda and loved my hair. Of course, we did a practice round and I took a photo of what I wanted.

Getting my hair done before the ceremony

Flowers

Our flowers were from Flowers on Springtree Lane. I love, love, LOVE Anne and Robin. They did a FANTASTIC job and I didn’t give them much detail or information go on with the flowers and I adored how they turned out.

Perfectly pretty

Cake

We went with the Cake Studio. Mmmmm each slice was half-white, half-chocolate with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries in between with a butter cream frosting. It is their signature cake and we didn’t try any others because we fell in love with this one. Maybe hard to see, but the cake was 5-layers and the different tiers had different designs to match the designs on my dress (another detail I loved that I’m sure no one else cared about!!) You can see some other flowers in this photo:

Oh I want a piece of this cake again!

Band

We hired Big Daddy Blue. They were great :) We worked with the agency Class Acts and they helped with finding a band that was available and in our price range. I can’t remember the name of the girl I worked with (my mom handled this detail more than I did).

A part of the 9-member band, Big Daddy Blue

Invitations

We used Paper Occassions in downtown Dublin. LOVED THEM! We spent a pretty penny on invitations and all things paper because I ended up REALLY caring about this detail. 

Our pretty invitations

Photo Guestbook 

This was a detail that was extremely important to me and I cherish the personal, touching messages our guests wrote. My mom took our “engagement” photos 3 weeks before the wedding because I was sad we didn’t have any then I threw the book together on Heritage Makers. Here’s what the book looks like (click the photo): https://powerofastory.com/2009/07/16/photo-guestbook/

For a copy of my extremely detailed wedding day timeline please contact me. I’m more than happy to share!

– Mary